Monday, August 18, 2014

No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an
unpardonable mannerism of style. …. Vice and virtue are to the artist materials
for an art.-Oscar Wilde
(Preface to ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’)

This film is a hit or miss.

One ought not to talk about its
sequences, references, camera, sound and what not, on even terms without addressing the elephant
in the room – the complete abandonment midway of what the central character was
thus far. The film’s “descent” into the absurd, the farcical shift in tone –
can make or break the film. It cannot be talked of as a minor point, say a mild
niggle and shift over to appreciating some nuances in the film-making.

You either buy it as a
deliberate choice of an artist or a facetious irresponsibility of an amateur,
who is learning the ropes. And all evidence of the so-called ‘new wave’ of
young filmmakers do urge one to side with the latter. However, I think there is
reason enough to believe this is a case of the former. And just that opens up a
whole new avenue of reading what the film was trying to do.

Thus, what follows may thus be
an indulgent over-reading. You have been
warned: